Ep 37. The psychology behind content that gets noticed by dream clients

Why does some content make you stop scrolling while there’s other stuff that you breeze right past without even noticing?

Well, there’s actual psychology behind it, and once you understand how that works, you can make sure that your content doesn’t get lost in the noise.

I really want you to understand the psychology behind what makes content land so you can be more intentional about making sure that the people you want to see your content actually see what you’re posting, and don’t scroll past it.

If you’re new here, hello. Welcome to Quiet Confidence with myself, Anita Popat. This is the podcast for introverts who want to market their thing without changing who you are.

So this is a problem we work a lot in inside Silent Storm. I bet a lot of you are creating content, spending hours on putting yourself out there, getting visible, trying to get in front of people, but it’s either getting ignored or you’re attracting the wrong kind of people. By “wrong” I mean those who aren’t your dream to work with clients. They’re the ones that are going to drain your energy or they’re just not ready for what you offer yet.

When you get loads of that it starts to affect your confidence, and I don’t want that for you.

So today we’re gonna dive into the psychology of content, the actual principles that make people stop scrolling and think, oh, this is for me, and more importantly, I want to show you how you can use these in a way that feel really genuine and not really icky, so you can weave all these into your content and be a bit more intentional when you show up on someone’s feed.

Right now, if you’re anything like the people that come into Silent Storm, you’re probably writing posts and hoping they work or hoping someone sees them and it resonates with them. And when they don’t, you don’t really know why. So you just keep trying different things and hoping something sticks.

That’s really exhausting.

When you know the actual psychology, like, OK, our brains are wired to notice contrast or we’re wired to want to close open loops. You can be much more intentional about how you communicate and it takes so much of that guesswork and mental energy out.

I think that’s actually really freeing, especially if you’re someone who already overthinks your content because instead of sitting there for two hours wondering if something’s good enough to post, you know what you’re doing and why, and you can make more intentional choices instead of just throwing stuff out there and crossing your fingers.

Also, understanding psychology means you can stop trying to copy what the louder extroverted people are doing and just focus on what works for you.

A lot of what makes content land, isn’t it, about being louder or posting more. It’s about being more specific, observing those little nuances and really being tuned into what your dream client needs to hear from you in that moment.

I just want you to understand how you can communicate in a way that makes sure the right people don’t scroll past what you’re saying because you’re spending time on that content, right? And I wanna make sure people see it.

So that’s what I’m gonna help you with today. Let’s get into what actually makes people stop and pay attention.

I’m going to try and walk you through these in the order that you probably see them when you’re scrolling.

So what catches your eye first? What keeps you reading? What makes you think, okay, this is for me. As I explain each concept, I’ll also share an example hook aswell, so you can see how to use it in practice.

I’ve got 6 of them to share with you:

1. The first one is the pattern interrupt.

So this is usually the first thing that makes you stop scrolling and something that doesn’t match what you’ve been seeing everywhere else.

Our brains are constantly filtering out familiar information to save energy, and we literally tune out on things that we’ve seen a million times before. But when something doesn’t match the expected pattern or our attention spikes, our brain goes, wait, what? and actually pays attention.

So if everyone in your industry is saying, “post more, show up every day. Be consistent”. And you come along and say, “what if you posted less but made it count more?” That breaks the pattern.

I’m not telling you to make things up you’re not really passionate about, but maybe stop trying to soften your actual opinions. If you genuinely believe in something different, just say it.

Say you’re writing about pricing. Using a hook that says “stop undercharging” feels predictable. A lot of people would say that.

But if you had a hook that was something like, “you’re not undercharging because you don’t know your worth. It’s because of this”. That’s unexpected. And it also piques a bit of curiosity, because it challenges what they’ve been told.

A lot of people might have been told that they’re undercharging because they don’t see their worth, so this makes you think, hmm, what’s she gonna say? and they’re likely to stop.

That’s your first challenge of stopping the scroll done.

2. Once you’ve got someone’s attention. Using contrast helps them understand your point faster.

Our brains are naturally wired to notice differences and make comparisons.

When you show the difference between two things, so maybe a before and after, what most people do versus what you recommend, conventional way to do this versus your approach, it creates immediate clarity.

For example, I could say something like, “most marketing advice tells you to post every day. I’m going to show you how to post twice a week and still build trust”.

This contrast makes it really clear what I stand for and no one’s going to be confused about what they’ll get from me.

If you want to make it into a bit of a storytelling hook, you could say something like, “I used to think confidence came first, then the price increase. Turns out it’s the other way round”. So now they want to know why and you set up a clear contrast between what they think and what actually works.

3. The third thing is to create a curiosity gap.

This is what makes someone think, OK, I need to know more about this, because when there’s a gap between what someone knows and what they want to know, and your content promises to fill that gap, curiosity kicks in, right? And curiosity is one of the strongest drivers of human behavior.

But it has to be genuine. Don’t create suspense or hold back information for no reason!

Build real curiosity about something that’s actually valuable. For example, you could say something like, “there’s one question that helped me 3x my prices without feeling like a fraud. Here’s what it is”. Now they’re need to know what the question is, right? And you’ll tell them.

4. This leads me nicely onto the next one, which is to create an open loop.

Once they’re reading, this is what keeps them going.

Our brains hate information that’s not complete. There’s actually a principle called the Zeigarnik effect. It’s all about how we remember unfinished tasks better than the completed ones because our brain is actively trying to close the loop.

This is why cliffhangers work. Especially on Netflix, right? You end up binging the whole series.

So things like, “Why I used to think X until this happened”. It makes you wanna keep reading because you started a thought and not finished it, and then the reader’s brain needs to know how it ends.

I could say, “I used to spend 2 hours on every post until I figured out this one thing. Now I create better content in 10 minutes”.

So I’ve opened a loop. You’ll want to know what’s the one thing, but now I’m gonna close it with my content as well. We’re not leaving them hanging for no reason.

5. This takes me nicely onto the next one, which is specificity. 

This one works to stop the scroll in the first place by using it in your hook and also within the content (text in a carousel or in your captions), because if you keep content really vague it’s gonna get ignored, where a specific content gets remembered, saved and shared.

This is because our brains process concrete details so much better than abstract concepts. Just think, if you’re scrolling the feed and it calls you out, you’re more likely to think, oh yeah, that’s me, and you’re gonna stop

Compare these two. I could say: “I help entrepreneurs grow their business”.

This could relate to anyone and it doesn’t really mean anything because anyone could say it.

Or I could say, “I help introverted business owners create a marketing strategy that doesn’t drain them”. Now my audience knows exactly who I help and what problem I solve.

I know a lot of people think if I get too specific, I’m gonna lose people, but it’s actually the opposite thing that happens.

When you’re specific, the right people will feel like you’re speaking directly to them, so they’ll stop to read, and the wrong people will scroll past, which is exactly what we want.

6. This leads me onto the last one, which is to create mirror moments and paint a picture.

Now, I’m not gonna spend ages on this one because I’ve talked about it in previous episodes, but it’s still worth mentioning.

This is when someone reads your content and feels like you’re literally inside their head. Like you’ve mirrored back exactly what they’ve been thinking about, but just couldn’t put into words.

I call them creating mind movies. So it is about getting really specific enough that your ideal client feels so seen, not just in describing the surface problem, but by describing the private thoughts they’re having, but they’re not telling anyone.

Instead of me saying something like, oh, you’re struggling with consistency. 

I might paint a picture by saying, you sit down to write a post, and two hours later you’re still there after rewriting it four times, you’re still asking yourself if it’s good enough.

And that specificity makes them go, oh my God, how did they know? Or, that’s so me.

The more you use these, the more trust you’re gonna build with your ideal client, they’re gonna really feel like you get them.

These are the main triggers, and as you can see from the examples I shared, you’re not trying to use all of them at once. Just pick the angle that makes most sense for what you want to say and test them out by using different hooks and captions and see what lands.

If you’re sitting there thinking, Hmm, this all sounds a bit, I don’t know, does it feel a bit icky?

I think the reframe I’d give you is that if your content is genuinely there to help someone, and you’re using these principles to make sure they don’t scroll past it, that’s not icky.

That’s making sure that your message actually reaches the people who really need to hear it.

If you’re using them to trick someone into buying something they don’t need, or trying to create fake urgency, or shame them into action, then yeah, that feels gross.

(If you’re listening to this, then I know that’s not you).

Because I know if you use an open loop to create genuine interest in something valuable that you’re gonna follow through and actually share what you said you’re gonna share. So that’s good communication.

I think some of us worry about this because we don’t wanna come across pushy or salesy, but being strategic about how you communicate is just good marketing. 

And you can be a genuine person and still use psychology at the same time.

Remember, the whole point of marketing is to be noticed by your dream clients, right?

We want to help people who are actually a good fit and understanding how to weave psychology into your content just makes you better at making sure the right people get to see what you have to say.

OK so I don’t want you to leave this episode thinking you’ve got to analyse every single post through all of these lenses and then spend hours crafting the perfect hook. That would be exhausting.

Sprinkle them into your content. Some days you might use one or two. Some days you might not use any of them, and that’s fine.

I just wanted to make you aware of them so you can use them in your content. And when you sit down to write something, you can just ask yourself, what would make my dream client stop and pay attention to this?

That could be because you said something unexpected because you’re getting really specific about something they’re feeling, or because you’re showing them a different way of thinking about their problem.

So please, please, please don’t force all 6 into every post. Just use what makes sense for what you’re trying to say, and over time this stuff becomes second nature.

You’ll write something and realise, oh, that’s a pattern interrupt, or I just created an open loop there, and it’ll become how you naturally communicate in your marketing.

Honestly, once you understand the psychology, you can create better content in less time because you’re not rewriting it loads of times trying to make it better.

You know what’s gonna work so you can write it, post it, and then be done.

Now if you’re listening and thinking, OK, this makes sense, but I’ve been following everyone else’s advice for so long that I don’t even know what my voice sounds like anymore. I’ve got something to help.

I’ve created a free marketing journal called Own Your Voice, and it’s for those of you who feel like you’ve lost your voice trying to sound like everyone else.

It’s got prompts to help you figure out when your high energy moments are and what you actually sound like when you’re not trying to be someone else.

And if you’re thinking, I know my voice, but I need help with the full picture. So the clarity in your messaging, your dream client work, your whole content rhythm. your whole marketing strategy, that’s what Silent Storm is for.

It’s my one-to-one program, and we work on making sure that your messaging is really aligned to who you are as a person and then we get really crystal clear on who it is that you want to talk to. Then we create a content rhythm that actually works for you. And then turn all of this into consistent leads.

If you found this episode useful, I’d love for you to share it with your network and also leave a review if you haven’t done so already. I’d really appreciate it.

Until next time, keep building you’re quiet confidence so you can make that loud impact in the world. Speak soon.